Bays upset Raiders in district opener

Tuesday

Feb 26, 2013 at 11:29 AMFeb 26, 2013 at 11:30 AM

By PETER PIETRANGELOsports@sooeveningnews.com

PICKFORD — Brimley stormed back from a 14-point third-quarter deficit and Anna Carrick hit a turnaround jumper with 38 seconds remaining to give the Bays a 38-36 upset win over Eastern U.P. Conference co-champions DeTour in district play Monday.

The Raiders led 25-17 at halftime then stormed out to six straight points on baskets from Alyssa Anderson, Rachel Hoffman and Holly Burton to take a 31-17 lead. Bays coach Ray Bell said he believed his team had a shot at winning districts if they could put everything together, but it looked unlikely through most of the season and certainly unlikely early in the second half.

"We all believed," Carrick said. "We've been through worse this year and come back.

"It was intense, it was now or never, knowing it could be my last game."

Lindsey Grzesiak scored on a layup to give the Raiders a 36-31 lead with 2:32 remaining. Carrick answered with a layup on the next possession, and Alyssa Graham banked in a 3-pointer with 1:48 remaining to tie the game.

The Raiders came down looking to shoot for the win. Anderson missed a 3-pointer, and the long rebound came out to Burton, who immediately fired off a long-range shot that missed.

Graham got the ball on the wing on the next possession, but instead of hitting the long 3-pointer, she passed it inside to Carrick, who hit a turnaround layup to give the Bays the lead.

"We set up a play for our best shooter and best post player," Bell said. "That's the ironic thing, is when she finally gets a wide-open shot, she passes it."

Said Carrick: "We had to do something, had to get up a shot."

The Bays had an opportunity to ice the game late, but Tabitha Graham missed the front end of the 1-and-1. Nicole Bouwma grabbed the rebound and chucked the ball down the court to Anderson, who was in on a 2-on-1 with Grzesiak to her right. She tried taking the layup, which was defended perfectly by Graham, and missed as the buzzer sounded.

"We just needed to focus on the little plays," Bell said. "We're not supposed to win this game, there was no pressure on us. I loved the defense and rebounding at the end. If that ball goes up, we have to go us and get it, yeah."

The Bays advance to play the other EUPC

See BAYS, page 11

co-champion, Pickford, in a district semifinal Wednesday. The Bays were swept by the Panthers 41-31 and 50-33 this season. Alyssa Graham led the Bays with 18 points, and Carrick added eight.

"The best thing about (Carrick) is I had benched her, yelled at her, got on her all game long," Bell said. "Instead of sulking, she stepped up and played like a senior. (Assistant coach) Joyel (Hyvarinen) knew I was steaming mad, so she said we were down by 17 at DeTour and almost won."